Health district's fee hike protested

LANCASTER, Ohio - Some Fairfield County communities are balking at the county health department's sharply higher assessments for vaccinations, inspections and other public-health mandates.

LANCASTER, Ohio - Some Fairfield County communities are balking at the county health department's sharply higher assessments for vaccinations, inspections and other public-health mandates.

The officials are expected to discuss their opposition to the 2011 budget at the Fairfield Department of Health's District Advisory Council meeting at 7 tonight at the county administration building in downtown Lancaster.

From suburban Violet Township to rural Berne Township, local governments would have to pay so much, officials said, they would not have the money to pave roads. Health officials should cut their budget rather than demand more money from local communities, the officials said.

"I don't know how we could afford it," said Violet Township Administrator Bill Yaple. The township's $117,000 share will increase to $176,000 next year.

Health Commissioner Frank Hirsch, who laid off six workers and left two jobs unfilled to balance this year's budget, said he can't cut more from next year's budget without affecting services.

At issue is the $2.6 million budget that the health board approved this month. The department inspects restaurants and pools, responds to sewage complaints, vaccinates children and performs other public-health duties required by law.

Local governments help fund the department with annual contributions based on property valuation. State and federal grants also provide funding. Fairfield has been a combined district since Lancaster closed its city health department and merged with the county in 2002.

Pickerington left the health district this year to save money by buying health services from Franklin County. Lancaster plans to dissolve its partnership with the county and just buy services from the Fairfield department instead. The arrangement will save money for Lancaster, which was paying a disproportionate share to the combined health district, city officials said.

The changes mean that fewer local governments are left to support the budget, so their shares are being increased.

The health department, which has 43 workers and operates out of a pre-Civil War building that has chipmunks and bats and is being treated for a flea infestation, receives no money from the county general-fund budget and doesn't have a dedicated property tax.

County commissioners have refused to help balance the health budget, saying they have had enough trouble balancing the county general fund.

The Fairfield Department of Health's circumstances are unique, but local health departments statewide are cutting budgets, laying off workers and leaving jobs unfilled, said Beth Bickford, executive director of the Association of Ohio Health Commissioners.

Statewide, health departments have cut 16 percent of their work force in the past two years, leaving about 3,500 local public-health workers, Bickford said.

State funding to local health departments was cut 30percent in the current two-year state budget from the previous budget, she said, and because the bad economy has closed some restaurants and idled housing construction, health departments are receiving less money from inspection fees.

The Fairfield department's advisory council, composed of representatives from the local governments, cannot overturn the board-approved budget but can ask the county budget commission to reduce the contributions funding it.

Next month, the commission, composed of the auditor, prosecutor and treasurer, will decide whether to accept or reduce the amounts required from the local governments next year.